Whether you are spring cleaning or trying your hand at the KonMari Method made popular in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, this may be the perfect solution for the clothes that will not be returned to your closet or drawers. It's called thredUP, and it is an online consignment boutique where you can both buy and sell gently-used clothing.

I found out about thredUP when a friend emailed me a code for $20 off of my first shopping spree. When I visited the website, I found that in addition to being able to purchase items at thredUP, I could also sell some of my clothes there.

Because it is often more trouble than it is worth to sell at the consignment shops in DC, I typically give away or donate most of what I clean out of my closet. Since I had nothing to lose, I decided to order a "Clean Out Kit" from thredUP to see if I could sell some of what I was planning to donate. A "Clean Out Kit" consists of a giant, postage-paid shipping bag that you fill with the clothes you wish to sell and mail back to thredUP. They review the items in the bag and provide you with either an upfront payment amount (clothes they'll list for sale under $60 and for which you will receive an immediate payout) or consignment amount (clothes they'll list for over $60 and for which you will not be paid until they actually sell).

Unfortunately, I did not count or catalog the items I sent, but I am guessing there were no more than 15-18 in the bag. Once thredUP received my bag and sorted through the contents, I got an email telling me that I was eligible for an upfront payment of $69.04 for 14 items that had been accepted. There is a way to get your items back if they don't accept them, but since all of these items were from a donation pile, I selected the option that allowed for my unaccepted items to be donated. The $69.04 upfront payment could be used immediately in the form of thredUP credit, or I could wait two weeks and have the money transferred to my bank account via paypal. Since my overall goal was to clean out my closet, I did not buy anything and cashed out two weeks later for $67.69 ($69.04 minus a 2% paypal fee).

I made $69.04 for items that I was going to donate and saved an actual trip to Goodwill. I love it! I'll definitely try thredUP again.